"Sport."

*tap* *tap* *tap*

"You called me 'sport.'"

*tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *clickaclicka* *tap*...*taptaptaptaptap* "No, that's wrong," he said to himself. "Danny, what did DC United do over the weekend?"

"Like I care? Casey."

"Danny." Casey tapped a few more times, sighed in disgust, and finally looked up from his attempt to glorify the trials and tribulations of American National-League Soccer--or he would if he could remember the score of their last game.

"Yes, Danny. Sport?"

"You called me *sport,* Casey."

"Yes, Danny, I called you sport."

"You've never called me sport before."

"Yes, I have."

"When?"

"When you were drunk." Was it six-four? Or six-five? He was pretty sure it was there was a six in there. DC had won, hadn't they?

"When I was drunk?"

"That's what I said." He got up and crossed the room quickly, sticking his head out the door. "What was the score of the DC United game?" he asked of the universe at random.

"Six-eleven DC," was the answer the universe sent him back, and he was grinning as he crossed back and dropped down into his chair. Danny was staring at him.

"When did you call me that?"

"Two years ago, Christmas," Casey said without looking up, typing quickly. "When you got into the eggnog and decided you were going to be the world's first Santa stripper."

A long pause. Casey looked up and grinned at Danny, who looked dubious.

"That's not true, is it?"

"Not a word," he said cheerfully. "But I do remember--It was a while ago, you got drunk in a bar. You were flirting with this cute little redhead, and her big ugly boyfriend took it personally."

"Oh." Danny nodded and went back to staring at his computer screen. Casey waited for it. However weird his life had become, he still knew this man like no other human on earth.

"So, what did Dana say?" Right on time.

"About the epiphany?"

"About the epiphany."

"She's still got the epiphany."

"This is turning into a chronic epiphany."

"Yeah, well, I asked her out again, she told me to date other women again. Although I'm not allowed to enjoy myself."

"With other women?"

"Yeah."

"So, what does that mean, exactly?"

Casey let his expression convey his confusion.

"I mean, are you allowed to enjoy their company but not their clothes, their makeup but not their perfume, their minds but not their bodies--what is she asking for, here?"

"Haven't a clue. But Dan, my man, I have decided." Casey smirked. "I'm going to humor her."

"Humor her?"

"Yep. I'm going to humor her. She'll see how completely and totally--" "insane," Danny muttered, but Casey ignored him. "How completely and totally *unnecessary,* this all is. Then when she finally comes to her senses, and realizes that she is really the one I want."

"She is?" Danny affected shock, mischief lurking in his eyes, and Casey retaliated swiftly, wadding up a discarded draft of his script and throwing it at him. An answering volley came back, and the fight was on.

Ten minutes later, there wasn't an uncrumpled piece of paper in the office, and the floor was littered with white. Casey's coffee had spilled over his keyboard, and Danny was gloating. Neither one noticed Dana standing in the doorway.

"I'm so glad you guys are having a bonding moment," she interrupted acerbically, and Casey almost started laughing at that--what if she'd come in around this time three weeks ago? he thought--"although I find myself wondering--completely without cause, I'm sure--do you *have* anything for tonight? Or are we going to wing it? Maybe illustrate your paper-throwing technique?" She glared at them both impartially, and stalked away.

A bare half-second later Natalie poked her head in, looking a bit like a squirrel who was trying to find a nut. She looked at the floor. She looked at the two guys. She looked in the direction Dana had gone. Then she looked at the two of them and grinned.

"Nice work, guys," she said cheerfully. "Sam just gave Dana some new notes for the show, and she needed someone to yell at."

With that, she was gone, scampering off to do whaterver the hell Natalie did all day when she wasn't gossiping with Dana or waylaying Jeremy in the wardrobe room--apparently the two of them still thought that was a secret. Little did they know Kim had found out on day two. There was currently a pool going on among the junior staffers as to when Jeremy would slip and come out wearing Natalie's lipstick. Casey sighed and dropped into a chair, checking afterwards to make sure it was his.

"When is this all going to make sense?" he asked of no one in particular.

Danny laughed. "Bingo! That's what you need, my friend--a sense of humor about it. That's the way to handle Dana."

The last paperball of the evening flew threw the air and landed with bull's eye accuracy on Danny's nose. Casey stared at the wreck of his office while Danny laughed harder, thinking glumly that Danny was probably right.

Humor Dana.

Make sense of the world.

Not bad goals, as goals went. As long as he kept a sense of humor about him.

The End